


Back and Forth

by Mangaluva



Series: The Keyleeverse [9]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Bet you were on the edge of your seat waiting for me to explain what the hell that was about, But really that just helped tie together the plot of a pre-existing story, Gen, Hey remember those people trapped in icicles in the Emerald story three years ago, Somewhat based on Delta episode, here you go, the Unown are weird and creepy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-02-20 07:43:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13142154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mangaluva/pseuds/Mangaluva
Summary: It's only been six months and the world's trying to end AGAIN, this time by meteorite. If the world's going to have a future, it's well past time they understood their past.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays, folks! This little midquel story is something I was working on for a long time, and them ORAS came out and the Delta episode gave me some ideas that tied everything together. So this is loosely based on a mishmash of Delta episode and some ideas of my own and starring a couple of characters from my very earliest baby writer days of writing Pokemon fanfic but have never seen the light of day before. I’m going to try getting this up while I’m finishing Dimensional Destruction and starting Eternal Enmity. This’ll only be a handful of chapters and isn’t necessary to start reading Eternal Enmity, it’s mostly just Fun With Worldbuilding and clearing up a weird wee BLAM from Calamity Calls.

When Saylee opened her eyes, she was lying on a rough stone floor, surrounded by darkness. It felt like the temples at the Ruins of Alph, but the floors in there were covered with the remains of stone tiles, not bare rock. The eyes of hundreds of Unown suddenly opened all around her, lighting the space and revealing her to be inside of a stone dome. 

 

“Am I dreaming?” she asked. “Or have you transported me to that dome in Hoenn?”

 

_ Y-E-S, _ three Unown spelled out in the air in front of her.

 

“Helpful as always,” Saylee muttered.

 

Behind her, somebody laughed and spoke.

 

Saylee spun around to see two people standing behind her. Both were short—the taller only a couple of inches taller than Saylee herself, the shorter nearly half a foot shorter—and very, very thin, though not quite dangerously so, with the smaller still having hints of baby fat to the shape of their face. The taller had short, matted hair of indiscernible colour, and the shorter had dirty blonde hair scraped back in a long ponytail. Both were wearing very ancient, ragged tunics tied at the waist and nothing else, though the older also had a number of dark red tattoos trailing all over their arms and legs.

 

The shorter one gripped the taller one’s hand and said something to them in a language that Saylee didn’t recognize. The taller one reached their hand out to Saylee, saying something that sounded like a question. 

 

“I’m sorry,” Saylee said, reaching her own hand out to the pair, “I don’t understand. Who are you? How are you connected to the Unown?”

 

The taller one pressed their palm to Saylee’s, intertwining their fingers with a smile, then nodded down at the shorter one, who also reached out a hand. Saylee gripped their hand in the same way, so the three of them were linked. As soon as she did, Unown flocked down over the strangers’ heads.

 

_ F-R-O-Z-E-N-I-N-T-I-M-E _

 

_ H-E-L-P _

 

All of the other Unown vanished, slowly plunging the three of them into darkness as the Unown of the message winked out, one by one. 

 

_ L _

 

_ M _

 

Darkness, and nothing but cold and the tight grip of two hands—

 

“Saylee? Saylee!”

 

Saylee gasped, cracking her eyes open. She felt frozen stiff, but she wasn’t in the dome--she was in her own bed, and the hands that she had in a deathgrip were Blue’s.

 

“Can you tell me your name and where you are?” Blue asked carefully. 

 

“S-S-S-Sayl-l-lee,” Saylee said through violently chattering teeth. “V-V-Vir-r-ridiannnn…”

 

“Prove you’re Saylee,” Blue said, huffing warm air onto her hands, which she could barely feel. “I mean, you look a hell of a lot like Saylee, but you suddenly froze stiff, and when I tried to wake you you grabbed my hands and your eyes started glowing so, y’know, gotta check you aren’t something wearing a Saylee meatsuit. What the hell is my life, making me ask these questions…”

 

“J-j-j-jerk,” Saylee muttered, slowing unfolding her fingers as feeling came back. Blue grinned and wrapped the duvet around her to warm her up. 

 

“Scared the hell out of me,” he sighed, getting up. “Hold on, I’ll go get Gary before you turn into a Froslass…”

 

Saylee glanced up at her dreamcatcher when Blue turned the lights on as he left the room. There was ice on that, too. 

 

{}

 

By the time dawn broke, with the aid of a warm boyfriend and his warmer Arcanine, Saylee had completely defrosted and was feeling fine, if somewhat apprehensive about what the dream/message/vision/trip that the Unown had given her meant. 

 

“I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the people stuck in the icicles in Hoenn are involved,” Saylee said, leaning a little closer than was probably strictly safe to the steam coming off of the boiling kettle. Her fingers were still feeling awfully blue.

 

“How’s Silver doing?” Blue asked, pouring a cup of tea and downing it black and scalding. “Didn’t he say he’d go have a look at those icicle things once he felt better?”

 

“He’s been out of hospital a while and feeling much better, but I don’t think he’s gotten a chance to go to Hoenn yet,” Saylee said with a shrug, pouring milk into her own cup of tea. “He’s taking his apprenticeship in Oreburgh very seriously, you know. I’m proud of him. Don’t want to encourage him to ditch it…”

 

“Yeah, but god stuff’s kind of a higher calling, isn’t it?” Blue said, turning at the sound of a  _ ding _ to unload toast. “Literally. If the Unown are involved, it’s  _ definitely _ god stuff. Maybe they want you to get those two out first? Or maybe somebody’s already got them out. What time’s it in Hoenn? Or Sinnoh?”

 

“Too early in both, I’m sure,” Saylee sighed, wrapping her hands around her mug and soaking in the warmth. “Apparently ancient Kantons associated Ho-oh with the rising sun, but nobody’s told him… Key and I stayed the night when we passed through Oreburgh, and do you know he’s up to five alarms in the morning now?”

 

“Damn, puberty hit that kid like a Rock Slide,” Blue sighed, shaking his head and all but upending a tub of Chesto jam over his toast. “Wonder what that’s like for Ho-oh? I mean, Pokémon don’t even  _ have  _ puberty. That’s gotta be screwing with that birdbrain…”

 

“Who’s a birdbrain?” Mary said suspiciously, coming through the door from the main hall.

 

“Not Toby,” Saylee clarified quickly. “Morning, Mary. Have you seen Jay? The Unown?”

 

“Naw, naebody’s seen him fae ages,” Mary said with a shrug. “Bloody Unown, aye? SG’s just got in fae night patrol, by the way, got some news.”

 

“I’ll meet her in my office in…” Saylee put some more bread into the toaster. “…five minutes. Thanks, Mary.”

 

“Nae tother a baw,” Mary said, stealing one of Saylee’s pieces of Rawst-jam toast. “Oi, Blue, I ken yer naw openin the gym fae another couplae hours, but there’s a bloke outside campin’ in wait fae when ye do.”

 

“Then gym’s opening half an hour later than usual,” Blue said around a mouthful of toast. Mary sniggered and headed back out, munching on her stolen toast.

 

“You’re a jerk,” Saylee said, loading up a second plate of toast and scooping up her own toast and the honey pot, giving Blue a kiss on the way past. “See you later. Play nice.”

 

“Moron,” Blue said, drinking some more tea. “That’s boring.”

 

{}

 

Saylee opened her office door to find SG having cranked down the chair in front of the head ranger’s desk to nearly flat and lying on her back, Flo lying on top of her trainer in a big warm mat of orange and cream fur.

 

“Busy night?” Saylee asked, setting down the toast and honey pot on the edge of the desk in front of SG. Without opening her eyes, the ranger grabbed both and started drizzling honey over the toast. 

 

“Pretty quiet, actually, boring as hell,” SG said with a yawn, popping a bit of toast in her mouth before she closed it. 

 

“Main thing that happened was an emergency airlift,” Flo sighed, cracking an eye open and peering at Saylee. “Mr Fuji collapsed. The doctors think he’s had a stroke…”

 

Saylee slowly set down the half-slice of toast that she’d been about to take another bite out of. “How bad is it?” she asked, automatically going to wipe her hand on her trousers before catching herself and grabbing a tissue. “Is he going to be okay?”

 

“Too early to say, they said, but they wouldn’t give me a lot of details,” SG yawned. “The priestesses at the Tower are looking after his granddaughter… any idea what happened to her parents? He’s the only family she’s got?”

 

“Mr Fuji never had any kids,” Saylee sighed, turning on her computer. “He found Hayley as a baby in a dead man’s arms. No idea what happened to her mother but we’re talking about Kanto fourteen years ago, so it probably wasn’t pretty… probably whatever gave her father his fatal injuries, if that man was her father…”

 

“Gonna be a big-ass mess,” SG yawned. “I gave the ranger station there a heads-up that the boss is in hospital, but Lavender’s a weird county. Nobody seems to know who’d be the Leader if something happened to Mr Fuji. Carrie and her clan are already dedicated full-time to their duties, and so are the priestesses… Hayley? She’s a kid, but…”

 

“We’ll figure something out,” Saylee said, opening up the census list of living Lavender Town residents, human and Pokémon, and in her head filling in the missing name that wasn’t quite either. “Thanks for letting me know, SG. That all?”

 

“Yeah,” SG said, feeding Flo a slice of dry toast while drizzling honey on another piece for herself. “We probably need to get people to set up a second-in-command in case something happens. Including you. Nearly caught up on the backlog from your world-saving jaunts abroad?”

 

Saylee rubbed her eyes as she clicked into her inbox and saw the size of her “unread” pile. “Not that it seems to have really reduced the amount of work that I have to do,” she sighed. “Want me to start delegating everything to you?”

 

Flo hopped off of SG’s lap as she stood up, grabbing the last piece of toast and glancing at Saylee’s screen. “No thanks,” she said. “Thanks for the toast, though…”

 

“Go get yourself some sleep,” Saylee said with a wave as the dozy ranger and Flareon wandered out of the door. She picked at her toast, appetite gone.  _ Mewtwo must know, but I’d have heard about it if he was panicking about it, anywhere near people, at least, _ she thought, glancing down her inbox.  _ Lavender needs special handling… Hayley wouldn’t be the  _ youngest _ local leader in Kanto, so I could ask if she wants the job. Not now, of course, but… when’s a tactful time to ask? _ Glancing down her inbox, she paused over one from  _ Looker@Interpol.int. _

 

_ Dear Sar Pryce, _

_ I have recovered enough to return to my duties within the International Police. The investigation as to my presence in Sinnoh is under way, as such I require speaking with you to be informed of the actions of my subordinates in the case which they have taken over for me. I am only a Magnet Train away, you are welcome to set the meeting date and time. _

_ With gratitude, _

_ Agent Looker _

 

Saylee quickly opened up the report on the capture poachers and the profiles on the “assistants”, who she realized she had arrested for poaching herself a few years prior.  _ More former criminals? I suppose I can’t judge, given how many people who used to work for the Rockets are now working in public services in Kanto… but he’s from Interpol, isn’t he? He  _ must _ be able to find assistants that don’t have a criminal record… _

 

She sent off a quick reply agreeing to meet Looker that afternoon, then started going through the latest arrest reports.

 

{}

 

Agent Looker—as Saylee knew now, Agent Beladonis Hawkshaw—was looking better than Saylee would have expected for someone who had joined with a god roughly six months prior, although given that he’d merged with the God of Time and had vanished immediately thereafter, he might have been recovering for several months longer before he reappeared the following day. His eyes now contained a ring of vivid blue that faded into his grey irises, a sure sign of an avatar, though it was less noticeable in Looker’s case than most due to the colour combination. The boundless inner energy that had kept him going following his wife’s death the previous year seemed to be continuing to propel him through his recovery and what was no doubt a strenuous investigation from Interpol over how far out of his jurisdiction he’d run to chase Galactic, even though doing so had resulted in him preventing Dialga and Palkia from unmaking time and space. 

 

_ The problem with the world not ending, _ Saylee thought, reading the report from her rangers on Looker’s assistants again,  _ is that people are weirdly unappreciative about nothing having actually  _ happened… “They’ve got fourteen citations for unprofessional conduct,” she read aloud, “although six of those are specifically about, and I’m quoting here, ‘the endless fucking puns’, which isn’t actually an offense… anyway none of them are severe, so not really that much of an issue given that they  _ did _ get the key evidence that we needed to convict those nest-robbing bastards, even if it was apparently entirely by accident.”

 

“They are good at that,” Looker said with a downright paternal grin.

 

“Long story short, you leaving your subordinates to handle the case didn’t exactly do us any harm,” Saylee said, smiling back, “and they didn’t lapse back into their old poaching in the process, so despite Interpol’s concerns, that was no issue.”

 

“They have set their lawless ways aside and become good assistants of the law,” Looker insisted. 

 

“If it’s not a rude question, how come you hire so many former criminals?” Saylee asked, signing off the citations as ‘read but not to be pursued’. “I’m not judging you—some of my best rangers used to work for Rocket, back when that was the best way to make a living around here, plenty of people reform. But I don’t have a huge pool to recruit from. You’re Interpol—you have the whole  _ world _ . So recruiting these two straight out of their second stint for poaching, recruiting ‘Team Miror B’ in Sinnoh—”

 

“To meet Mr B and his charming wife and friends was very much a chance,” Looker interrupted, “but as they were thieves, they were of much help. Set a thief to catch a thief, no? Also, as you now know, I was not there for Interpol,” he added sheepishly, “as such, I could not have found assistants in Interpol. Besides… I am very much believing in second chances.”

 

“…Even now?” Saylee asked carefully. She’d only heard an overview of what Looker’s first inadvertent trip through time had entailed, not having been present for it as she was for Morty’s, but she knew that he’d learned, very definitively, that even with all the powers of time, some things cannot be undone.

 

“A re-do, no,” Looker said softly, “but to try anew, yes. To have the right person reach out to you at the right time can very much change a person’s life, yes?”

 

As if on cue, Saylee’s pokégear buzzed with a call, the caller ID showing Silver’s picture. “I’m sorry,” she said, picking it up. “Do you mind if I take this?”

 

“No, no, not at all,” Looker insisted, sitting back and opening his own pokégear to check his emails while Saylee turned her chair away a bit to answer the call.

 

“Silver! How are you?” Saylee asked, picking up. “How do you feel?”

 

“ _ I’ve been fine for like a month, seriously, _ ” Silver insisted. “ _ Also, you weren’t kidding about Hoenn being hot as hell. Should’ve brought Jo with me. She’s pining for summer to get back to Sinnoh. _ ”

 

“Bet you’re loving the heat, though,” Saylee said with a grin.

 

“ _ The sunlight, really.  _ Damn _ was I missing sunlight. Anyway, about the weirdos on ice, no sell. I can’t melt ‘em, not even with the purple stuff, which is kinda pissing me off. _ ”

 

“Not even Sacred Fire?” Saylee said with a frown. “Thanks for checking it out, Silver. Sorry to drag you out to Hoenn for this…”

 

“ _ Hey, I’m not complaining, beach holiday time for me. But seriously, what  _ is _ that stuff? Even Ho-oh doesn’t know, they just say it’s the Unown doing a thing again, and even Ho-oh doesn’t seem to know what the hell the deal with  _ them _ is… _ ”

 

“We don’t know what it is,” Saylee admitted. “If it’s not ice and not crystal, I’m not sure what they’re—” She groaned aloud, thumping her head down on her desk and drawing a concerned look from Looker. “Frozen in time,” she muttered. 

 

“ _ What the hell are you on about?” _

 

“I had a dream last night and—” Saylee glanced up at Looker. “Can they do that? The Unown? Can they literally, physically freeze somebody in  _ time _ ?”

 

The blue around Looker’s pupils flared up in spikes as he frowned to himself, something that Saylee had learned to take as an avatar mentally conversing with their god. “There is… little that we could not believe of the Unown,” he said slowly. “What they are, exactly, even the gods do not know, it seems.”

 

“ _ Divine consensus is that the Unown do whatever the hell they want, regardless of how reality is supposed to work, _ ” Silver said. “ _ Frozen in  _ time _? What does that even  _ mean, _ though?” _

 

“I have no idea, but… I’ll head out there soon,” Saylee said. “I have an idea.”

 

“ _ I pulled ten days’ holiday, so I’ll see you when you get here. Gonna go check out those famous beaches… bet I can’t sunburn. I mean, I can stick my hand in actual fire without getting hurt, the sun can’t do shit to me!” _

 

“I’ll see you when I get there,” Saylee promised. “Behave, Thief. Love you.”

 

“ _ Yeah, yeah, Liar… loveyoubye, _ ” Silver mumbled, hanging up. 

 

“We don’t get Interpol officers around here very often,” Saylee said, setting her pokégear down. Looker did likewise, folding his hands and listening attentively. “Am I allowed to depute you for cases?”

 

“You must have to contact my superior officer, but as the head of Kanto law enforcement, yes,” Looker said, raising an eyebrow curiously. “There is a case?”

 

“It’s… truth be told, I think it’s god stuff, and I could really use your help,” Saylee admitted. “I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, or if you don’t think you’re quite there with your powers yet, but if you do I figure I can tell Interpol that I deputed you to come help with an investigation in Hoenn in my capacity as the head of Kanto’s law enforcement, and didn’t contact them properly in my capacity as a hick kid who’s cobbling together some law and order in Kanto out of spit and rubble and is much better at beating up hordes of criminals than filling in forms correctly.”

 

Looker coughed. “Well, they  _ do _ credit you and Lady Weaves for saving the world also,” he said, “but yes, that will be easily accepted, I believe. Perhaps might you also tell them this about my presence in Sinnoh? Oh, I have not been blaming you for my being there,” he added quickly, “but if you tell them that you deputed me there, I can simply say that I did not mention this because I knew that I should not have agreed to go and did not wish to incriminate you.”

 

“They’ll believe you didn’t mention that this far into the inquiry?” Saylee asked, standing up and grabbing her jacket and pokégear. “I mean, I don’t mind going with that story, no skin off my nose, but will they buy you going to that much trouble to avoid incriminating me?”

 

“Because everyone who has met me knows that I am, as they say, a ‘big soft’ for my Jenny, and am very protective of young ladies her age and younger,” Looker said, rolling his eyes and making air quotes. “Ah! This is not that I think you need protecting!” he added quickly. “You are a knight, after all, and the chief ranger, and perhaps the strongest trainer in the Fairlands. But because I am a ‘big soft’, they will believe it. I myself believe they are wrong. I am not soft! I am a most hard-boiled detective!”

 

Saylee stifled a laugh—Looker looked so absolutely sincere that she didn’t have to contrast his insistence on being “hard-boiled”, regardless of the fact that she completely agreed with Looker’s coworkers on the fact that he had a soft spot the size of a Snorlax for his daughter.  _ Lucky Jenny _ , she thought, banishing the brief twinge of envy as she opened her office door and stepped out into the hall. “Just let me get my Pokémon, and then, shall we?”

 

{}

 

Key walked into the kitchen to find her parents tiredly muttering to each other over a tablet covered in notes on what looked like the food budget. It had occurred to her that she and her parents were living in the same house for the first time in a good ten years, but with all three of them running themselves ragged all hours of the day, it was hard to enjoy it.

 

“Everyone’s in their rooms,” she reported quietly, “and all the younger kids are either asleep or faking it incredibly well.”

 

“Thanks, honey,” Kate said, looking up at her daughter with a wan smile. “Can you pick up the playroom and the den?”

 

“Sce and Cammy are doing that just now, actually,” Key said, opening the dishwasher and starting to unload the cleaned lunch dishes. 

 

“They’re still here?” Kate said in alarm.

 

“They’re not claiming for overtime or anything, Mom,” Key said, trying to stack plates as quietly as possible. “They just want to pitch in and help.”

 

“I know, honey,” Kate sighed, “but if they keep staying over their legal hours, unpaid, and the welfare department gets wind of it…”

 

“If they have a problem with it, they can explain why the hell they’ve given us seven more kids than we have the staff and space for,” Norman growled, glowering at the calculator next to him. “We sure as hell don’t have the food budget for it… screw it, I’m going directly to Wallace about this. They need to either relocate these kids better or give us nearly twice the budget we have now…” He cleared the tablet screen and started typing a new email.

 

“I’m working here for free,” Key pointed out lightly.

 

“Honey, you’re a Champion,” Kate said with a smile. “They’re not going to get on  _ your _ case for working all hours at a children’s home.” She got up and gave Key a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she headed for the pile of dirty dishes. “ _ I’m _ certainly not complaining about having my reality-saving little girl safe at home!”

 

Key scooped up more cutlery than most restaurants owned to put away, listening to her father muttering under his breath about bureaucrats who wouldn’t be reading their emails at ten at night. Nearly a year down the line, parts of Hoenn were still rebuilding from the Calamity, and while the refugee camps were emptied and everybody had a roof over their heads, a lot of those roofs were pretty cramped while people waited for their homes to be rebuilt. The Calamity had caused a triple whammy of producing an unfortunately sizeable new population of orphans, destroying more than half of the care homes and foster homes in Hoenn, and preventing a lot of hopeful potential adoptee families from adopting because they were either out of home themselves or were housing friends, relatives or refugees who were out of home.

 

_ Running this place is a pretty heavy 24/7 job anyway, especially for Dad with his Leader duties on top of it, _ Key thought, helping her mother load the dirty dinner dishes into the dishwasher.  _ Mum’s almost scarily good at matching kids up with the right adoptive family, so I don’t think this place has ever even been at capacity, never mind this far over. I’m sure just making sure that everybody in the country has a roof over their heads is a difficult enough goal to tackle right now, but we’re all wobbling badly here, and all the kids are gonna suffer if we start slipping from exhaustion… _

 

“Oh, Key,” Norman said suddenly, “you know that meteor shower on Cressday?”

 

“The Litleonids? Yeah,” Key said, looking up at her father, who was cracking his back and shoulders as he straightened up from his hunch over his tablet. “ _ Ow. _ I can  _ hear _ that.”

 

Norman grimaced. “Well… your mother and I bought a lifetime pass for the special viewing events at Mossdeep Space Centre years ago, but as things stand we just aren’t going to be able to absent ourselves for long enough to go this time,” he said. “Why don’t you take the day off and go see the shower on our pass?”

 

“Really? Cool!” Key said, before catching herself. “But… is that really gonna be okay? I mean, I’d love to, but we really need all hands on deck for a while, don’t we?”

 

“We do, honey, but as you pointed out yourself, you’ve been working night and day for no pay,” Kate pointed out. “You deserve a day off. It’s a school day, so most of them will be out for most of the day, anyway. We’ll manage.”

 

“You and Dad never take a day off, though,” Key said, looking from one exhausted parent to another.

 

Norman smiled at her. “You don’t become a Leader or a children’s home director in the expectation of having days off, ever,” he chuckled tiredly. “Or a parent, for that matter. I have some Leader business to attend to that day, anyway. You’ve saved the world twice in the past twelve months, Key. I don’t think anybody could begrudge you taking a day.”

 

“And it’s for two,” Kate added with a nudge and a wink. “Bring a friend!”

 

“Thanks, Mom,” Key said, hugging her mother with a smile. “I’ll go make sure the house is locked up…”

 

After seeing the day carers out, doing a last patrol of the house, helping a three-year-old girl to the bathroom and checking in with the Pokémon who were on night watch, Key finally returned to her own room—which was, given the overcrowded building and per her own request, a tent next to the garden pond where Manami slept. Thomas was already sleeping in a tree overhead, and Topaz was curled up next to Key’s tent.

 

“You missed a call from Saylee,” Topaz said, holding up Key’s Pokénav between two claws. “I picked up. She said that she’s coming to Hoenn with Agent Looker to have a look at the people in the weird icicles near Fortree and that they should be in Cresselday morning.”

 

“Wow… that timing,” Key giggled, changing into her pyjamas and crawling into her sleeping bag. “I’ll ask if she wants to come see the Litleonids that evening… hey, do you wanna come see the Litleonids that evening? It’s a meteor shower. They’re pretty cool.”

 

“A meteor shower? Oooh… I can’t wait!” Topaz said, buzzing her wings excitedly. “Do you think she’s gonna get those people out of the icicles?”

 

“I don’t know… Did she really say she’s bringing Agent Looker?” Key asked, taking off her glasses and setting them on top of her bag. “I thought she said Silver was going to look at them…”

 

“Well…  _ somebody _ was coming to look at them,” Topaz said, poking her head into the tent and resting it on Key’s feet, generally a sign that the dragon was ready to sleep.

 

“I’ll find out when she gets here, I guess,” Key yawned, closing her eyes and drifting off almost immediately in the warm night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saylee and Looker arrive in Hoenn and Key arrives in Mossdeep. Both make some startling discoveries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit I still write fanfic? Apparently! Looker going Dad Mode on Saylee really seized me and then the rest of this went reasonably well afterwards.

The ship to Hoenn that Saylee and Looker managed to catch was full of construction workers, so it was hardly a luxury cruise. Everyone was sleeping on bunks rather than in rooms and there weren’t any parts of the ship where they could have a private conversation.

 

“So… how’s your recovery going?” Saylee asked nonchalantly over breakfast.

 

“Oh… very well,” Looker said casually. “I am feeling much stronger, though I am still learning to… how to say… boat-weight myself?”

 

“Ah… anchoring? So you drift sometimes? Saylee asked. “Morty did that when he was recovering…”

 

“Only in my mind,” Looker said, tapping himself on the forehead. “And how are your brothers recovering from their, ah, ordeals?”

 

“Silver says he’s alright, but he always says that,” Saylee sighed, stirring her cereal. “We’re going to meet him when we reach Hoenn, so we’ll see. Red is…” She half-smiled. “By all accounts, he’s a perfectly healthy and normal child. Steven and Silver think there might be… side-effects… as he grows up, but Silver thinks he’s just… normal, happy, healthy… he’s started smiling for real, Mum says. I didn’t realize that was a thing babies can’t do right away, but apparently they have reflex smiles that don’t have anything to do with their feelings for a couple months before they get the hang of being amused by stuff and smiling for real.”

 

“Ah, yes, I remember Jenny’s first smile,” Looker said, smiling nostalgically himself. “She was a very beautiful baby anyway, of course, but somehow even prettier when she first smiled. However… you still sound concerned about your brother.” Saylee couldn’t help looking around; none of the builders appeared to be paying them the slightest bit of attention, but she still felt nervous about speaking about either of her brothers where anybody could overhear. Losing either of them (again) was too real a fear.

 

“It’s… pretty selfish, really,” Saylee admitted quietly. “I mean, he’s hardly the only person in the world to lose his memories, certainly not in Kanto. And he’s better off, really, not remembering growing up in Kanto, especially since he’s just a baby now.”

 

“He remembers nothing?” Looker asked. Saylee shook her head. “My condolences, Sar.”

 

“It’s not--I mean, he’s _back,_ and I’m happy about that,” Saylee protested. “It’s his soul, it’s _him_ , so it’s just… _ungrateful_ of me to be unhappy that he’s missing something, isn’t it?”

 

“Not at all,” Looker said, shaking his head. “Our memories are a great part of who we are, are they not? They connect us not only to our history, but to the people that we love. Those of you who love your brother, he does not remember why, and that is indeed a loss. And as you have said, you are hardly the first in Kanto to suffer such a loss.” He shrugged with a little smile. “Melody and Jenny and I, we were abroad at the time, so it was not our memories that we lost, but we returned home to Johto to find that a great many of our dear friends and family did not remember us. They were themselves, but in many ways not, because we had to talk to them as if they were strangers. It is a very lonely thing, to keep a person but lose a relationship.”

 

“You can say that again,” Saylee said quietly, wrapping her hands around her tea. “I feel like I shouldn’t still miss him, but I _do._ Well… I guess the fact that we live in different countries now isn’t helping,” she admitted. “I video-call Mum and Byron every week to see them, but I guess I wish I could be there to see him grow up.”

 

“Is it so impossible?” Looker asked curiously. “I understand, you are the head of Kanto’s law enforcement, there is much work to do. But still, any such organization, it cannot simply be many people working under you, no? You have regional deputies, a second-in-command, and so forth, yes?”

 

“Well… regional deputies, yes, and a few of my best who travel all over where needed, including me, but I don’t really have a specific second-in-command,” Saylee admitted, scooping up the last few flakes of cereal and eating them. “I kept in touch over email while I was in Sinnoh, but I didn’t leave a single specific person in charge while I was away…”

 

“Well, you ought!” Looker declared, picking up her bowl and his empty plate to take over to the dish return. “There are many things that I am sure you can delegate to a person who you trust, who can watch over things in person while you go to spend more time with your brother! You can do such paperwork as is needed by the person in charge from anywhere, can you not?”

 

“Yeah, I could do the paperwork, but… I can’t ask my rangers to go risking their lives in the field if I’m not doing the same,” Saylee protested, following him and quickly necking the rest of her tea before putting the mug away. “I want to spend time with Red, Silver, my family, but… how can I just leave the dangerous part of the job to other people while I’m playing with my baby brother?”

 

“You are very noble, Sar, but you have already put yourself and your Pokemon in danger many times over for the sake of the world,” Looker insisted, steering her out onto the deck. They were passing Quest Island, the southernmost of the Sevii Islands, and the high red cliffs that surrounded the canyon standing out starkly between the deep blue sea and sky. Saylee focused on that, instead of the weirdly determined expression on Agent Looker’s face. “Besides, perhaps you need not only go to spend all of your time with your brothers, delightful though I am sure that would be? Hearthome University is quite famous as the best university in the Fairlands, and has quite a good program assisting citizens of Kanto with attaining the qualifications needed to attend!”

 

“I know, my friend Sabrina’s getting her high school equivalency there right now,” Saylee said, “but I already have a job, Agent Looker--”

 

“I know, yes, but hear me out, please?” Looker asked, holding up a hand. “Yes, of course, you have a job and do not need to attain a degree. But acquiring a job is not the only reason to seek education. You complained of attempting to ‘cobble together some law out of spit and rubble’, yes?”

 

“Well, I was exaggerating a bit,” Saylee admitted. “I spent a while talking to police officers and rangers in Johto, learning about how they did things there--”

 

“You studied!” Looker exclaimed. “To learn how to do what you must, you studied, yes? And by studying and imitating others, you have started to build things that Kanto needs. But Kanto needs more than imitations of other things, and you are struggling to decide what those things are, yes?”

 

Saylee didn’t answer, mainly because she was reeling from Looker somehow putting into words a worry that had been creeping up on her for a long time.

 

“For this, you must not only study things which exist, but _ideas_ !” Looker declared, tapping his forehead. “This is what university is for. There you could study law, which involves not only studying laws which exist, but _why_ they exist, and what the goal of the law should be. Or history, or politics. You are taking on a very great job, Sar, but you need not feel as if you are scrambling among rubble in the dark!”

 

Saylee chewed her lip. “It’s four years, though, and that’s only _after_ doing the high school equivalency course,” she pointed out. “I couldn’t leave for that long… Blue’s a Leader, he can’t leave his gym, and even if we’re used to being apart a lot, the better part of four years is a lot, even for us…”

 

“Hmm, this is true,” Looker mused. “You could do much studying from abroad, as well, especially in later years, but would still be able to make regular visits to campus and to your family. Of course, this is only a suggestion to think on,” he added. “I will stop to dad you now. I must take a morning walk--my legs, they get very stiff if I do not! But I think it is very important to consider doing something for yourself, yes? And I think your doting brothers will be quite happy to see more of you!”

 

With a wave, he headed off down the deck, leaving Saylee still staring pensively at the passing islands.

 

{}

 

Key had only been to the Mossdeep Space Center twice--once when it was being torn apart by Steven Stone taking on most of Team Magma, and once after Groudon and Kyogre battled when the sturdy building was serving as a refuge for the many now-homeless people on the island. She’d never been there for anything to do with _space._

 

Several parts of the building were still barricaded against the curious while they were under construction, but an empty launchpad had had soft mats rolled over the hard tarmac to make it easier to sit or lie down on while viewing the night sky. Quite a lot of people were already there, some napping in the sun, some reading or chatting excitedly with those around them.

 

“Lady Weaves! Or is it Sar Weaves, now?” Professor Cozmo said, greeting Key excitedly. “It’s wonderful to have you here for the Litleonids!”

 

“Thanks, Professor Cozmo,” Key said, letting him enthusiastically shake her hand. “Lee’s going to come view them with me, too--you remember Saylee?”

 

“Sar Saylee of Kanto! We will have both of the heroes of Hoenn here for the viewing! Wonderful!” Professor Cozmo said happily. “When will she be arriving, do you think?”

 

“Her ship should be getting in about now, actually, but she wanted to go meet up with her brother first, so she said she’d meet me here,” Key said, checking her pokenav. “I heard there are events going on during the day here, so I thought I’d come see. I’ve never actually seen the exhibits in the Space Center!”

 

“Let me take you on a personal tour of the center!” Professor Cozmo said, ushering her into the Space Center. “The first display includes artefacts from the first ever successful Fairlan journey to the moon, which was some years after the original Unovan expedition…”

 

Key let the Professor lead her on a tour, genuinely interested in the exhibits. Most of them were things that had fallen to earth, an extensive history of asteroids and meteorites, but there were also antique photographs of spaceships, long-gone astronauts of renown, and old-fashioned space suits that were so bulky that she couldn’t imagine living in them for days or weeks. There was a room full of star maps and full-colour photographs of different galaxies and nebulae, which she could’ve stared at forever.

 

“Every day, we discover more of the distant, infinite beauty of the universe!” Cozmo said, leading her along the photographs. “And every day, parts of that beauty fly a little closer to us. For the past year, Mossdeep Space Center has been tracking the approach of a rather unusual interstellar object--it’s not open to the public, but you’re quite a special case, Sar Weaves, so why not come up to the main lab and see?”

 

“You don’t have to ask me twice!” Key said with a grin, following him through a few brand-new “Employees Only” doors. _Actually, I think I remember this,_ she thought as she walked into the main lab. The huge room had banks and banks of computer terminals all facing the biggest two of the giant monitors that plastered the walls, directly above a raised walkway with a few more control panels. _I mean, the last time I was here, it was mostly a ton of Magma grunts fighting… well, speak of a Gengar!_

 

“Key! Good to see you,” Steven Stone called, waving at her from where he was standing on the raised walkway with a nervous huddle of astrophysicists. “You certainly got here fast--I only just called Wallace!”

 

“Called Wallace about what?” Key asked warily, looking around at the staff working at the terminals around the room. They didn’t look excited, like Professor Cozmo, but tense and… scared? “I just came for a tour of the Space Center before the Litleonids. What’s happening?”

 

“Ah. Well… there may be a problem,” Steven sighed. “Why not come on up and hear about it?”

 

“Problem? Of what sort?” Professor Cozmo asked, frowning. “There won’t be clouds tonight, will there? The forecast clearly stated--”

 

“Not clouds, Professor, but perhaps something rather more concerning in the night sky,” Steven said, nodding up at the screens. Key couldn’t really make sense of any of the various intersecting lines and numbers, but apparently they were very worrying numbers indeed.

 

“You see the long string of blue gibberish there?” Steven said when Key climbed up to the platform, pointing at a blinking dot that was moving in from the right side of one of the screens. “That’s an interstellar object that’s they’ve been tracking here for more than a year. There’ve only been one or two interstellar objects that’ve passed through our system in the past couple thousand years, at least ones that earthly scientists have been able to trace, and none of them have ever come near the Earth.”

 

“Don’t we get asteroids and stuff like that all the time?” Key asked.

 

“Yes, but they all originate from within this solar system,” Steven explained. “Interstellar objects originate from _other_ solar systems. This one was going to pass close by the earth--not viewable by the human eye, but probably through telescopes, which would be quite fascinating.”

 

“But now?” Key asked warily.

 

“Now? It abruptly and inexplicably changed course, and is now set to collide with earth,” Steven explained quietly, leaning in close so that Key could hear him over the astrophysicists nearby presumably explaining the same thing to Professor Cozmo, but with much longer words. “It’s also increased in speed. Instead of passing by in two months, it’s going to collide with the earth tonight.”

 

“ _What_ ,” Key demanded flatly. “You’re kidding me. How’d it go _faster_ all of a sudden? How did it _change course_ ? Stuff just drifting through space doesn’t _do_ that! _Tell_ me you’re messing with me…”

 

“Believe me, I _wish_ that was the case,” Steven sighed. “The site of the collision is going to be Hoenn.”

 

“Where in Hoenn?”

 

“You haven’t quite grasped the size of this object,” Steven said darkly. “It’s going to land on _all_ of Hoenn.”

 

“But… wouldn’t something that big…?” Key gasped, unable to really grasp the scale of devastation that the little blue dot onscreen represented.

 

“Wipe out all life on earth? Yes,” Steven replied quietly.

 

“Tell me there are limits to your policy of not getting too involved,” Key whispered, leaning in.

 

“Of course, but flying into space to move a meteor of that size?” Steven gestured down at his body. “That would most definitely involve burning this mortal form, and since I have a lunch date next weekend, forgive me for wanting to save that for a last resort. They’re discussing other possibilities just now, but they’ll take powerful trainers and powerful Pokemon. Wallace will of course contact the strongest in Hoenn--they’re likely the only ones close enough to respond in time. I believe I heard you say something about Sar Kanto coming to Hoenn as well, however?”

 

“You most definitely did not, because I was outside when I said that, but she is here… and so’s Silver,” Key mused quietly. “And I think I know where they should be about now…”

 

{}

 

The flight to Route 120 from Slateport--after tracking down Silver napping on the beach--was beautiful. Hoenn in the summer was hot, and riding on Charlotte’s back didn’t help, but once they started flying and the wind picked up, they had an unparalleled view of Hoenn from the sky. The earthquake scar from Groudon’s rampage was healing over; cities that had been in the way were rebuilding, trees were regrowing, rivers were settling into new courses, and the whole country was lush and green--even the desert, where an oasis had bloomed, a spot of colour amongst the swirling sand.

 

What was waiting at the end of their flight, though, was as disturbing as the flight was beautiful.

 

The sight of the icicles stationed around the dome, and the dark shadows inside of their prisoners, were more than a little unsettling. The way they seemed to appear slowly from the gloom as the eyes adjusted to the darkness from the brightness of the sun outside made them look like ghosts floating in the dark. The lights from their pokegear torches barely penetrated the dark for more than a couple of feet, and Charlotte had adamantly refused to so much as stick her head through the opening in the rock.

 

“These things are _really_ creepy,” Silver said, making a face as he walked up to one. He pressed his hand to it, palm glowing purple with fire, and then pulled his hand away after a minute to show how undamaged the icicle was. “So what’s the plan?”

 

“These are… odd indeed,” Looker said thoughtfully, his eyes starting to glow blue as he approached the shimmering crystalline spires.

 

“Wait… have a look at this one, first,” Saylee said, running to one of the icicles that appeared no different from any other aside from the fact that, for a moment, she’d seen an L Unown hovering over it and was now quite clearly hearing the voice of one of the people from her dreams calling to her. “Agent Looker, can you do anything to this?”

 

Looker pressed a hand to the icicle, frowning faintly as his eyes glowed so brightly that his pupils disappeared. “This… is indeed solid time,” he murmured. “It has solidified around this person for… _thousands..._ please hand me a rock.”

 

“A _what_? Why?” Silver asked.

 

“A rock, please!” Looker repeated, holding out his left hand while keeping his right pressed to the icicle. “If this works, I may perhaps be able to explain it, but until then, please! A rock! A large one!”

 

“Will this do?” Saylee asked, levering a stone the size of her foot out of the ground and holding it out. Looker snatched it out of her hand, holding it out while the icicle began to glow around his hand.

 

“What, and how, and _why_ ,” Silver asked flatly as they watched the icicle begin to melt away under Looker’s hand. It didn’t drip with water, simply melted away into nothing, almost as if it were evaporating--

 

\--and sand was running through the agent’s fingers as the stone eroded like a rock-type underwater. Saylee quickly grabbed another rock and placed it in Looker’s hand before the last of the first stone had dissolved away.

 

As the time melted away, the person inside was slowly revealed--the blonde that Saylee had seen in her dream, a slight teenager with long, matted hair and a dirty tunic. Saylee ran to catch them as the crystal supporting them vanished and they collapsed. To her shock, the strange person was not only warm but _breathing_ , not dead but merely unconscious.

 

“They’re _alive,_ ” Saylee whispered as the last of the stone and ice disappeared.

 

“Holy shit,” Silver whispered, running over to peer down at the sleeping person. Under the filth, their hair might have been blonde. “They were in there for _how_ long?”

 

“Five thousand, eight hundred and eighty-nine years,” Looker panted, wiping sweat off of his forehead. “That time had crystallized around them. I ran it through the stone…” He stirred his toe in the dust at his feet and loosened his tie. “Merely trying to break them out would have passed them time through _them_ instead, I believe. That would not have been good.”

 

“No,” Saylee agreed, carefully laying the blonde on the ground. “Silver, can you keep them warm? I’ll get--” She paused as a flicker of movement drew her eye. An M Unown was hovering over another icicle nearby, and she heard a voice again, the voice of the taller person in her dream.

 

“Hey, was that--?” Silver asked, looking at the icicle.

 

“Are you okay, Agent Looker?” Saylee asked, standing up and looking up and down the slightly pale agent.

 

“I can, I believe, do that once more,” Looker offered, “but I will most certainly need to rest afterwards.”

 

“Thank you,” Saylee sighed. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but whoever these people are, the Unown seem to think it’s pretty important that we get them out ASAP.”

 

“Don’t wanna risk _those_ assholes getting bored waiting around,” Silver grouched, crouching down and holding a handful of purple fire over the blonde, sweeping it around to keep them warm.

Saylee dug up another rock to give Looker and started digging for more while the agent began to melt the icicle. She couldn’t help looking around to watch the icicle melt; it almost looked like a bad effect from an old movie, this ice disappearing into nothing while sand poured to the ground at Looker’s feet. The person inside began to appear sooner, being taller and more muscular. Saylee put a last stone on top of the rapidly-dissolving pebble left in Looker’s hand and ran to catch the freed person as they began to collapse.

 

“Silver!” she shouted as the agent’s knees started to buckle, her arms already full of the unconscious stranger. Silver jumped over the blonde and ran to catch Agent Looker before he hit the ground, also unconscious. “We need to get them to a hospital,” Saylee said laying the person in her arms on the ground. They were a little taller than her, also wearing a dark, ragged tunic and a heavy, pale cloak. Their arms and legs were covered in dark, elaborate tattoos of what looked like Pokemon. Unlike the blonde, who had their hair in one long, filthy tail, this one’s hair was black and short, if messy. “Silver, go tell the archaeologists that they can come in now… and to bring stretchers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deleted scene:
> 
> “Hey, Silver,” Saylee said as soon as her brother picked up his phone. “We just got into Slateport. Where are you?”
> 
> “I was asleep,” Silver mumbled reproachfully.
> 
> “It’s eleven in the morning,” Saylee pointed out. “Are you still in bed?”
> 
> “I got up!” Silver said indignantly. “Then I went to the beach and fell asleep again.”
> 
> “We’ll come find you,” Saylee sighed.


End file.
